One person is dead, after driving onto the Mississippi River in La Crosse and breaking through the ice.
According to La Crosse police, a city employee called 911 after noticing tire tracks had gone through a 40-foot high embankment off an intersection at Swift Creek.
Police have identified the driver of the vehicle as Winona State University student Ellen Marie Ahmann, 21, who is originally from Woodbury, MN.
Sergeant Randy Rank said the vehicle was still on its tires when it landed on the river ice. He says divers and underwater cameras located the car in approximately six to eight feet of water.
Ahmann’s body was recovered from the vehicle, after a wrecker pulled it from the middle of the creek — about 12 hours after the incident was first reported at 1:30 on New Year’s morning.
An autopsy was scheduled for today on the victim.
La Crosse city and county authorities continue to investigate.
